Post by keiran on Dec 24, 2015 7:38:16 GMT -8

New Delhi: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be the brand ambassador of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom venture, Reliance Jio, which will launch its 4G services on December 27.

The company will, however, begin the commercial rollout of the service from March-April and the Sunday's soft launch will be only for Reliance Industries' employees.

"I am their brand ambassador. Mukesh Bhai explained it to me. Actually it's his children who are doing it. All the three are very close to me," Mr Khan said in an interview to ETV.

Shah Rukh Khan and musician A R Rahman will host the soft launch function of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd's (RJIL) 4G service on December 27.

The film star added that Reliance Jio deferred the launch twice because it was looking to improve the services.

"They deferred it twice, because they felt there is work still left in end use. 27th will be soft launch and in March-April we will do more. So I think Jio will be revolutionary. Not just for India. It will change things around world for India," Mr Khan said.

Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani had in June said the beta programme (trials) of Reliance Jio "will be upgraded into commercial operations around December of this (2015) year" and "financial year 2016-17 will be the first full year of commercial operations for Jio".

Later in October, Reliance Industries said financial year "2016-17 is projected to be the first year of commercial operations for RJIL".

Mr Khan in the interview said the new service will be a game changer as it will increase speed and with speed, information and knowledge.

"We have only seen tip of the iceberg. It will lead to a lot of innovations. This will increase speed. Speed will increase information, knowledge. It will be used at various places, I think, from education to production to manufacturing. I am talking very futuristic," Mr Khan said.

Reliance Jio holds the highest amount of liberalized spectrum among telecom operators that can be used for deploying any technology for mobile services.

It has a total of 751.1 MHz spectrum across 800 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 2,300 MHz bands.

According to field trials by brokerage firm Credit Suisse, download speed on Reliance Jio's 4G network during beta-test peaked at 70 megabit per second but remained in 15-30 mbps range on most occasions. (Also read: Movies could be downloaded in 3 minutes on this network: report)

Mr Khan was earlier the brand ambassador of Bharti Airtel.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel's founder and chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal, had recently said that Reliance Jio Infocomm was using Airtel's two icons - Mr Khan and Mr Rahman - for the soft launch.

Post by agantuk on Dec 24, 2015 8:35:18 GMT -8

I have mixed feelings about this association. While I have been waiting for the Jio launch for years (yes years), Reliance doesn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence in consumers. Irony of their name.

Post by keiran on Dec 26, 2015 5:09:37 GMT -8

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan who has been chosen as the brand ambassador of Mukesh Ambani's telecom venture, Reliance Jio will launch it's 4G services on Sunday, December 27.

It will be launched before the company's employees at Reliance Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai on the eve of Dhirubhai Ambani's birthday.

"I think the digital world, especially with Jio, will change from what I have understood till now since I am the brand ambassador. On 27th (December), when the soft launch happens, and we will do more in March-April, it will be revolutionary," the Bollywood actor said in an interview to a news channel.

However the commercial launch of its 4G services will be in March-April of 2016.